Chicken Biriyani Instapot Edition

Like the air-fryer, instapot is another invention of the decade that has impacted how my kitchen activities evolved. Biriyani while highly palatable, had always evoked the image of a labor intensive dish in my food prep plans and so it never made it into a regular menu item. That is, until Mr. Instapot took a foothold on the crowded kitchen counter.

It was an uninspiring Monday of a lazy  3-day weekend and I was walking around musing on dinner ideas for the coming week. Too lazy to go to the grocery store and equally lazy to wash dishes. That is when the idea that has struck many a harried mother the world over occurred to me too. Make something with whatever is in the kitchen. Being an engineer by profession, I'd say laying out and executing a project plan is way easier than coming up with a dish plan on a whim. Not a natural cook by any means, I found that food videos and blogs inspire the latent cook in me. So watching and reading is what I did.

I had chicken legs at home and rice and the instapot too. I liked Vahchef's idea of a flavorful chicken biriyani in a cooker and myheartbeet's instapot steps were well laid out and precise. Decided to combine both with a bit of overlap in flavors and steps and voi-la born the biriyani that hitherto will be a constant go to product, er dish in my humble kitchen.

In the Mix

chicken legs - 6 

basmati rice - 2 cups

water - 2 cups

mint leaves - 1/2 cup chopped

cilantro leaves - 1/2 cup chopped

ghee - 1tbsp

olive oil - 3 tbsp

for garnish

cashewnuts - optional

raisins

2 shallots

addon -1

cloves - 4

cardamoms - 3

black pepper corns - 1 tsp
garlic - 5 pods
ginger - 3/4" thin piece


addon -2
kalajeera - 1 tsp (or shahjeera)
cinnamon stick - 1/2 crushed
bay leaf -2
biryani masala - 1 heaped tbsp
salt to taste

addon-3
green chillies - 5 sliced

shallots - 6 sliced thin

addon-4

garam masala - 1 heaped tsp

turmeric - 1/4 tsp

paprika/kashmiri chili -2 to 3 tsp

How To Do

Soak the rice for 20-30 minutes, drain and set aside.

Halve each of the chicken legs, wash and set aside.

In a pestle, crush all items from addon-1 in that order. Cloves, cardamom, pepper, ginger, garlic.

Transfer to a bowl, add the meat pieces along with all items from addon-2.

Kalajeera, cinnamon stick, bayleaf, biriyani masala and mix well. Add salt to taste and set aside for 30 minutes.

Turn on the saute function of the instapot, add 1 tbsp of ghee and 2 tbsp of olive oil. Fry the raisins until they swell up, then the cashew nuts and set aside. Saute 2 sliced shallots for 4-5 minutes and set aside all for garnishing later.

Add the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil to the instapot pan and add the shallots and green chili from addon-3. Add salt as needed and saute for 6-7 minutes. Check and make sure to select the saute default timer does not get turned off.

Now add the meat mix and saute well on both sides. 6-7 minutes. 

Add items from addon-4 garam, masala, paprika, turmeric and mix well together for 2-3 minutes. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot so the BURNT won't show up later on. Deglaze with bit of water if needed. Check salt.

Spread rice on top. Add water. Do not mix together. Sprinkle mint and cilantro leaves on top. Close the lid and pressure cook on high for 7 minutes. Pressure release at normal for 10-12 minutes and release any remaining pressure manually. 

Garnish with raisins/cashews and onions, remove to a serving dish and enjoy unashamedly with papads and raita.

Unfortunately picture taking couldn't be done before the dish did its disappearing act. So that will have to wait until it gets made again which can't be that far off going by the glowing reviews.